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    She originally planned on going shopping since she was out for the first time in a while, but after she dropped the bomb, those plans went out the window.

    Euncho tried to hold off the explosion of questions her colleagues were asking her about her boyfriend. At the same time, she received a text from Ki Taeju saying he was on her way to pick her up.

    With cold sweat running down her back, she did her best to answer the questions she could afford to answer. The moment she received Ki Taeju’s call, she excused herself and bid them farewell as she exited the store.

    As she walked towards a large street, a familiar car began to draw near. Since she recognized the car, she walked up to the back and opened the door.

    “Huh?”

    She thought Ki Taeju would be sitting in the rear seat, but he was actually driving the car. It seemed that he had driven the car here to pick her up. She quickly closed the door and made her way to the passenger seat. When she opened the door, she asked, ‘What’s going on?’

    “What do you mean?”

    “I didn’t think you’d be the one to drive here, babe.”

    “So you don’t like it?”

    “No, I like it!”

    Ki Taeju watched as Euncho got in. When she closed the door, he leaned towards the passenger seat.

    He naturally pulled the seat belt as if this was his responsibility and buckled it in for her. 

    Euncho watched as his handsome face drew near. Before he pulled away, she placed a loud kiss on Ki Taeju’s cheek.

    Ki Taeju laughed. Instead of pulling back, he wrapped a hand behind Euncho’s neck and placed a proper kiss onto her lips. It was a deep kiss that put Euncho’s light peck to shame.

    When he began to suck on her lower lip, Euncho began to giggle. When her laughter dampened the mood, Ki Taeju pulled away with a look of disbelief on his face.

    “Why do you keep laughing while we’re kissing?”

    “It tickles when you lick the inside of my lip.”

    Lately, this was a new thing that Ki Taeju liked to do when they were kissing. It must have been sensitive, because whenever Ki Taeju licked that area, her fingers would curl and she would burst into laughter due to the ticklish sensation.

    It was such a pure and innocent laugh that Ki Taeju couldn’t say anything about it. He gazed at her face and let out a sigh as he wiped the saliva from her lips.

    “You’re still a child. A kid.”

    With those words, Ki Taeju returned to his seat, and the car finally started moving. The same sedan that she had seen at the villa began to move through the busy downtown streets.

    His hand naturally came over to her side and grabbed hers. Euncho caressed the back of his hand and opened her mouth.

    “Guess what. I received a wedding invitation today.”

    “From who?”

    “Sehee-ssi from the B/O department. She used to work with me at the front desk, but she got promoted to the back office. I heard that she’s going to get married soon.”

    “Really?”

    “Yeah. And Han Dongjin and Cha Yeri are also getting married.”

    “And who are they?”

    “They’re celebrities. Don’t you know them?”

    “Should I know them?”

    When she spoke about the things she’d heard while eating her shaved ice, he answered rather apathetically. This man was rather ignorant when it came to things he didn’t care about.

    When the car stopped at a red light, Ki Taeju turned to look at her.

    He untangled his hand from hers and raised it to sweep back her disheveled hair. While he was there, he didn’t forget to caress her earlobe. These trivial acts were dripping with affection.

    Even though he was rather indifferent about others’ wedding news, he couldn’t stand to see one unruly hair on her head.

    Even though it didn’t look like he’d changed much, she could see how he’d changed in this aspect.

    Ki Taeju no longer hid his love for her. Therefore, time never seemed to flow in Euncho’s summer. The familiar heat and bright sunlight continued to blind her as she relived that summer over and over again.

    Yeah, this isn’t bad either.

    A marriage was merely a social construct. Just because she skipped that step didn’t mean anything would change significantly in their relationship.

    If she could simply continue to receive his love like this without marriage, she would be satisfied. She was the only one who knew what it felt like to receive Ki Taeju’s clear and unconditional love.

    It seemed that her mother’s worries had briefly passed on to her. There was no need to worry about a problem that wasn’t even that serious.

    She didn’t want to bother him with such trivial matters. Marriage was something the both of them had to figure out, so it was inappropriate to let others’ opinions get in the way.

    When the light turned green, the car began to move again.

    As always, Ki Taeju’s hand found hers, and their fingers intertwined. Vrrrr. Suddenly, her phone began to vibrate. She pulled it out and looked at the screen.

    It was a text from her mother.

    As soon as she saw it, she knew.

    It was the arranged meeting that she would have to attend once, and her mother would never mention it again.

    “Are you busy tomorrow, babe?”

    Euncho put her cell phone back inside her purse as she asked.

    “I think I have to go to a meeting. Why?”

    “I wanted to eat something tasty for dinner if you had some time.”

    Ki Taeju glanced at her as if her request was unexpected. Euncho usually never asked him to eat first.

    It was her way of trying to figure out his schedule without having him notice. She was never very good at deceiving him, so she often rambled when she tried to do it. Thankfully, Ki Taeju didn’t think it was too strange and calmly answered back.

    “We can do that. Pick something you want to eat.”

    “Okay.”

    If dinnertime worked for him, that meant the meeting would occur during the day. And he would often hold his meetings at the main office.

    Good.

    During that time, she could just go out for a bit and come back before he returned.

    Euncho thought as she clenched her fists with determination.

    * * *

    The bright afternoon sun seeped in through the windows.

    Euncho arrived ten minutes early, and she couldn’t help but feel anxious as she massaged her cold hands.

    Thankfully, due to his meeting, Ki Taeju woke up and left the house early even though it was a weekend. Therefore, Euncho was able to get ready for this meeting and leave the house without any issues.

    Although everything was going smoothly, she couldn’t help but feel nervous as she chewed on her lips.

    “Park Euncho-ssi?”

    She felt someone’s presence and awkwardly stood up from her seat.

    The man looked way better than the photos her mother had sent her, and he bowed in a pleasant greeting.

    “Nice to meet you. My name is Jeon Hyungjoon.”

    “Ah, yes. Hello.”

    “May I take a seat?”

    “Yes, go ahead.”

    He sat down in the seat across from Euncho as he flashed her a gentle smile.

    “Everyone told me you were a beauty, but you’re much more beautiful than I expected. Honestly, at first, I was wondering if everyone was exaggerating, but… it seems that they weren’t exaggerating at all.”

    He was being too earnest to be saying this out of politeness, so Euncho couldn’t do anything but smile awkwardly. She could have returned the sentiment, but she didn’t really want to be here in the first place, so she didn’t feel the need to do so.

    “Have you ordered already?”

    “No, not yet.”

    “Then shall we order something first?”

    He called a waiter who was standing by. The waiter handed him the menu. Jeon Hyungjoon then handed it to Euncho.

    “Have you already eaten?”

    “No.”

    “Then shall we order a meal set?”

    Euncho nodded.

    She doubted she’d be able to swallow anything in front of someone she met for the very first time, but today was the first and the last, so she could endure this much.

    Euncho glanced through the brunch menu and saw something she wouldn’t mind trying, so she was just about to turn the menu to him and ask what he thought when…

    “…Gah.”

    She quickly raised the menu to hide her face. Jeon Hyungjoon didn’t know why she was acting like this and looked confused.

    “Euncho-ssi?”

    Euncho’s head twinged when he heard the man’s confused voice.

    ‘Why?’

    Why was Ki Taeju here?

    Euncho froze as soon as she discovered Ki Taeju’s presence in this lounge. 

    He told me he had a meeting today…

    No way. Was the meeting being held here?

    Here of all places?

    Of all the hotel lounges in Seoul, it had to be here?

    It was way too much of a coincidence. Euncho bit her lips.

    “What… are you doing?”

    Euncho kept the menu up against her face. Jeon Hyungjoon’s eyes were wide as he blinked in confusion.

    “Ah, I have a sun allergy.”

    “Sun… allergy?”

    Jeon Hyungjoon seemed even more confused as he looked around. The problem was that Euncho was holding the menu in the opposite direction of the sunlight.

    “Yes, but more importantly, what should we order for our drinks?”

    “You have the menu, Euncho-ssi…”

    “I plan on ordering the iced americano. I heard that this place has good coffee. Why don’t you give it a try as well, Hyungjoon-ssi?”

    Rather than asking for his opinion, she seemed to be bulldozing him into agreeing. They managed to order the food. Meanwhile, Euncho tightened her hold on the menu when the waiter attempted to take it back.

    “What kinds of hobbies do you enjoy?”

    “I heard you were two years younger than me. Is that true?”

    “I heard you were a hotelier. That means you work part-time, right? Sounds like the night shift would be tough.”

    “What do you do on your days off?”

    Jeon Hyungjoon continued to ask her questions.

    He sympathized with the difficulties of her job from time to time. If Euncho was here to sincerely get to know him, they would probably have continued seeing each other after this meeting.

    However, Euncho couldn’t do that.

    ‘Did he leave?’

    Euncho didn’t know if she was answering his questions properly. She was too busy hiding her face with the menu.

    In the midst of this awkward atmosphere, the food they ordered began to come out one by one.

    When the server stepped into a spot that would hide her behind him, she peeked over the menu and looked around.

    The large frame of the man she could recognize with one glance was nowhere to be seen.

    He must have left. Or maybe she had been mistaken from the start.

    With a surge of relief, Euncho finally lowered the menu.

    ‘That scared the crap out of me…’

    She came out here because she couldn’t deny her mother’s request, but it pricked her conscience a lot more than she’d thought it would. Even though Ki Taeju hadn’t seen her, she already felt like her soul was leaving her body.

    Imagining him coming here because he knew what she was here for made her heart twist inside her chest.

    And all that was left was regret.

    Why did she even come out here today? Just once? What was the point of ‘just once’… The longer she sat here, the gloomier she’d feel. She began to try to find a way to leave when…

    Vrrrrr.

    Her cell phone on the table began to vibrate.

    [♥Taeju Darling♥]

    She felt like this was all a dream.

    The timing of his call was ridiculous… No, not a dream. This was like the climax of a horror movie. It was the only way she could describe this situation that brought such a chill to her heart.

    Feeling hopeless, Euncho asked for Jeon Hyungjoon’s understanding and answered the call.

    — Where are you?

    After Euncho answered the phone with a cautious ‘Hello?’, Ki Taeju replied with a question of his own. Euncho gulped.

    His voice sounded too exhausted to be angry. And more importantly, she didn’t see him here at all. Had she truly been mistaken earlier? Was the person she had seen not him after all?

    “Me? Something came up so I’m out right now. I’m in the middle of eating lunch.”

    — Really?

    “Yeah.”

    — ……

    “……”

    — ……

    The silence lingered. Euncho’s fingers curled.

    Unable to endure the silence, Euncho spoke up first.

    “…Hello?”

    She asked in a quiet voice.

    — Do you want to come here or shall I go there?

    His calm voice was like a lightning bolt for Euncho. 

    She shut her mouth.

    She felt like she could see what kind of expression he was making through the phone. So it wasn’t a mistake. Ki Taeju had seen her sitting here.

    “I-I will go to you, sir…”

    If she had to choose one of those two options, she preferred the former. If he came here, she felt that it would do irreparable damage.

    — I’ll give you five minutes to come down to the parking garage.

    With that, he ended the call.

    After that, Euncho wasn’t in her right mind.

    After finishing the call, Euncho began to pack her things. Seeing this, Jeon Hyungjoon looked at her with his mouth open in shock.

    “Euncho-ssi?”

    She got up from her seat as she pushed her cell phone into her purse. Euncho turned to face him.

    Her food and drink wasn’t even halfway done yet. However, all she could think about was the five minutes Ki Taeju had given her to get out of here.

    “I’mSoSorryHyungjoon-ssi. SomethingCameUp AndINeedToLeaveImmediately. You’llHaveToFinishThisOnYourOwn, ButIAteThisOnMyOwnBefore, AndIt’sNotThatMuch. SoDon’tFeelAwkwardAndPleaseEnjoyTheMealComfortably. IEnjoyedOurTimeToday, ButIDon’tThinkWe’reAGoodMatch. I’llDoMyBestToBreakThisToMyMother, SoPleaseDon’tWorry. IfYou’reStillNotHappyWithThat, YouCanJustBlameAllOfThisOnMe. I’mSoSorryAboutThis. I’llTakeCareOfTheBillBeforeILeave. I’llHeadOutFirst. ThankYouAndGoodbye!”

    “What, Euncho-ssi? Pardon?”

    She spoke in a rush and rattled on as Jeon Hyungjoon tried to understand what she was saying. He hurriedly stood up. However, before he could stop her, Euncho had already run from the table.

    She frantically searched for her wallet and quickly paid the bill before running out with sweat running down her brow. She gasped for air as she arrived at the parking garage. A sleek sedan was waiting for her.

    Euncho straightened her hair that was damp with sweat and coughed to soothe the tightness in her throat. Then she slowly walked over to the car.

    As soon as she opened the rear door, she saw Ki Taeju sitting inside as he stared at the cell phone in his hand. He glanced up at her.

    Euncho did her best to calm her ragged breaths as she awkwardly smiled at him. Ki Taeju merely stared back at her with an indifferent expression on his face. Euncho felt a chill run down her spine.

    “Let’s go.”

    After a moment of silence, he ordered the driver. Hyungsik changed the gear of the car when he heard the curt command.

    Meanwhile, a tense silence filled the car as it made its way out of the parking garage. Euncho nervously tapped her knees before cautiously opening her mouth.

    “Ki Taejuuu… I didn’t come out here because I wanted to.”

    “Did someone drag you here?”

    “Huh?”

    “Did someone force you to come here by tying you up and dragging you here?”

    “No…”

    “Then you did come here with your own two feet.”

    “……”

    “I was just wondering if you were trying to use that as an excuse.”

    His words were so cold that it felt like winter was already here.

    Euncho clenched her hand on top of her lap.

    She knew she was in the wrong. She hadn’t thought things through, and she knew this was a foolish thing to do. But if she really thought about it, it wasn’t completely her fault either.

    It all started because she wanted to respect Ki Taeju’s wishes.

    Of course, she did choose to hold her tongue all because she didn’t want to make him worry. But she could understand why Ki Taeju was reacting this way. She completely understood his perspective.

    However, she couldn’t help but be hurt by the way he was treating her like she was some kind of horrible criminal. Even though she knew it was her fault, it still hurt.

    “I know I’m in the wrong. I know that, but there’s a reason for this.”

    “Yeah. People who cheat always seem to have a reason.”

    “Cheat…!”

    Euncho was completely caught off guard. She bounced in her seat as if she wanted to stand up.

    “How is that cheating?!”

    “You went out to giggle around with some other fucker. And you don’t call that cheating?”

    “I told you there was a reason for that. The reason why I went out is…”

    As Euncho tried to explain her side, she met Hyungsik’s gaze through the reflection in the rearview mirror.

    Whatever it was that she had to say, she wanted to say it when it was just her and Ki Taeju. She shut her mouth and glared at Ki Taeju. Ki Taeju looked back at her in disbelief.

    They continued to glare at each other throughout the car ride. Hyungsik must have been quite uncomfortable with all this tension because he drove faster than he usually did.

    She thought they were going back to the house, but she quickly realized that they were moving towards the hotel instead.

    Once the car came to a stop, they took the elevator up to the EFL. Even when they arrived at the lounge, Ki Taeju did not say a word to her.

    Since she was the one that started all this and the one who was caught doing something wrong, Euncho decided to lower her head in defeat as she entered the room.

    “Are you still mad?”

    She didn’t know when would be a good time to speak to him, so she cautiously spoke up as she entered the master bedroom. Ki Taeju was in the middle of taking off his jacket.

    “Still?”

    “……”

    “Is this all a joke to you?”

    “Why… Why do you keep talking like that?”

    Her heart ached when she heard the chill in his words. Euncho clenched her fists as she argued back. Ki Taeju let out a frustrated scoff.

    “Why are you acting like you were wronged? It’s making the actual victim feel even worse.”

    “…My mom asked me to meet him just once. It was arranged by the factory boss who helped my mom out when we used to live in the villa. My mom felt indebted to him, so she couldn’t reject his request. I planned on rejecting him after we met anyway.”

    “Is that so?”

    Even though his words sounded like he was being understanding, his tone was sarcastic. Ki Taeju pulled out a long cigarette and put it in his mouth.

    “Then that means I can go out and see any bitch that my household sets up for me, right? Since you did it too.”

    “……”

    “What? You told me that’s not cheating.”

    She knew.

    She knew that Ki Taeju was saying hurtful things on purpose. She knew that he didn’t actually want to do any of that.

    But Euncho couldn’t hide the way she flinched when she heard his words. A boulder seemed to sink deep inside her heart.

    Although her meeting with Jeon Hyungjoon was so short that nothing could have happened, she could not deny that it was not just an ordinary meeting.

    It wasn’t a simple meeting. It was a meeting with marriage in mind. Neither of them could deny it.

    Just the thought of Ki Taeju sitting across from a woman in such an arrangement made her heart feel suffocated.

    Her thoughts must have been easy to read because Ki Taeju let out a sigh and lowered his cigarette. Then he began to walk towards Euncho.

    “If you’re hurt by the thought of it, why can’t you consider how I feel?”

    Ki Taeju gently rubbed the edge of Euncho’s eye with his finger.

    “You know I’m more attached to this relationship than you are, but this was too much.”

    “……”

    “You crossed the line.”

    Rather than when he was expressing his anger, his soft, bitter voice that clearly relayed his disappointment made her heart feel like it was crumbling. She felt as if a thin needle was poking her insides. As if it were alerting her of her guilt.

    Ki Taeju quietly observed Euncho’s face before turning around to light his cigarette.

    “Let’s talk later.”

    “……”

    “I think I’ll say something hurtful if we continue this conversation right now.”

    Click. After lighting his cigarette, he exhaled the smoke and exited the bedroom.

    Euncho continued to stare at the spot where he had been standing for a long time before slowly covering her face with her hands. 

    If she could turn back time… She thought this to herself a hundred times as she was filled with regret.

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